Brave New World
by Ayla505x
Summary: Griffin is a young loner whose past is as uncertain as the shifting tide. However, when he stumbles upon a mysterious Clan of advanced warrior cats, he finds that perhaps ushering in the new age is the key to unlocking the secrets of his origins.
1. Chapter 1

The rhythm of a thousand heartbeats seemed to  
hang in the air, suspended in time, a warm blanket that shrouded this magical  
forest from the outside world. Whispers of times long passed, dreams let free  
to glow in the midst of the night. Tendrils of ivy laced with the gentle scent  
of a mother's tender love, tall red oaks holding in their bark a man's secrets.  
Silvery birches shone with the dew that glistened off their smooth surfaces.  
Spider webs were nets of trapped light. Cupped leaves dipped precariously  
before a fat drop of water would slide from their grasp to the forest floor  
below.

A small hiss drifted up from a passerby in this  
immense place. A drop of water splashed on top of the shadowy figure's head.  
The feline shape shook its head impatiently to try and propel the water off his  
fur, which was ruffled up against the cold of the morning. The tomcat lifted  
his head, staring up at a thin streak of pale blue sky through the dense canopy  
of the forest. He'd been following this route for days now, traveling by the  
slanting golden light that glowed on a strangely well-worn path. Despite his  
irritation at the moisture that seemed to cling to everything, he was quite  
enjoying his journey here. He found beauty in the dapples of sunlight that  
sprinkled everything, the magical array of colors from birds overhead and  
flowers that bloomed along the path.

Why he was traveling, he really wasn't sure. It  
certainly wasn't his choice. The young tomcat would have been perfectly content  
to stay in one place, lie in the sun and relax. But a perplexing yearning to  
keep moving tugged at his paws, told him to keep up with the life chosen for  
him. He couldn't even remember a time when his paws weren't sore… his stomach  
not empty… his body not cold. All too often he found himself stumbling along on  
bleeding pads that screamed with every step he took, an infuriating  
restlessness burning in his veins. Keep going. Just keep going.

A sudden screech overhead stopped him in his  
tracks. With a start, the young red-furred tom looked up and froze, fear  
completely immobilizing him. The largest bird he'd ever seen was upon him in an  
instant, a whirl of tawny-brown feathers and huge hooked talons that dug into  
his flesh as it attacked. He cried out but the breath was ripped from him as the  
massive creature hefted him into the air. Completely silenced by shock and  
pain, he could do nothing, not even struggle as the bird's wings propelled huge  
gusts of wind underneath them. Suddenly, they were clear of the treetops, and  
everything around them was a startling array of light.

His eyes narrowed at the blinding sunlight, and  
he was momentarily distracted from the sharp, merciless grip around his  
midriff. He'd never seen mountains before. Sure, he'd heard of them, but never  
in his wildest dreams had he imagined they were so beautiful, so majestic.  
Great silver towers of glimmering stone that clawed at the sky like some  
monster's sharp fingers that had frozen in time. A stiff, cold breeze buffeted  
them, and the bird struggled violently to keep its grip on the young tomcat. He  
hissed in pain as the beast's talons shifted their position, finding an area of  
unmarked flesh where the points dug into the skin.

"Could you possibly let me go?" The young tom  
snapped, glaring up at his captor. So surprised was the massive bird to hear a  
cat speak its own tongue, the iron grip of its talons subsided. In no time, the  
cat was plummeting to earth, air ripped from his lungs as he whipped through  
the dense canopy of branches back into the dark woods. He tumbled and struggled  
against vines that wrapped around his limbs and spider webs that tickled his  
noise. Finally he crashed to the ground, in a path of bright forget-me-nots  
that cushioned his landing considerably.

Grumbling under his breath, the young cat sat up,  
shaking his head to get rid of a leaf clinging to his fur. "Well," he huffed,  
glaring up at the hole he'd made in the shield of branches to where the bird  
was circling, searching for new, less frightening quarry. "That was rude."

He stood slowly, checking himself for injuries  
by stretching one limb at a time. Besides the pinpricks of pain in his sides,  
no wounds to be found. Sighing, he began to walk again, before a sudden voice  
interrupted him.

"How'd you do that?"

Stopping in his tracks, the red-furred cat  
examined the trees around him, scouring for the source of the voice. "Who're  
you?" He answered coolly, lifting his tail.

"Don't answer a question with another. Just  
answer me."

Eye twitching in annoyance, he growled. He could  
now determine that though the voice was gravelly and had a strong, tough edge  
to it, the source was indeed a female. "First of all, I don't know what you're  
talking about. Second of all, shouldn't you introduce yourself before  
questioning me?"

There was a long pause before the voice  
answered. "Very well." The tom spun around, and standing behind him was a young  
calico she-cat. Her patched pelt was cloaked by the shadows of broad leaves but  
he could still make out the misshapen splotches of white, ginger, and black.  
One nicked ear twitched as she watched him through clear blue eyes. "My name is  
Lovesong. I am deputy of EarthClan, a Clan that lives and hunts in the very  
lands you are trespassing on. Care to give me your name, stranger? And tell me  
how you talked to that eagle?"

For once in his life, no smart comeback could be  
found. He simply stared at the she-cat, not much older than himself, and tilted  
his head to the side. What was this talk about a 'Clan'? And what did she mean  
by calling herself 'deputy'? Finally, he relented and answered her question  
without further stalling. "My name is Griffin." He told her. "And that bird  
back there… an eagle, you called it? I'm honestly not sure what you're asking.  
It's a bird."

"…Yes. And?" Lovesong blinked, obviously not  
understanding his explanation.

"So… I talked to it." Griffin explained slowly,  
as though instructing a very young kit.

"You're telling me you're able to talk to  
birds." She processed this information painstakingly, never once taking her  
skeptical gaze from the red-furred tom in front of her.

"Of course." Griffin grumbled. The she-cat then  
dropped the subject, which he was grateful for. He didn't want to be told that  
it wasn't normal, that a cat shouldn't be able to talk to birds. In the manner  
of a human refusing proof of a Godless existence, he denied it, told himself  
this she-cat didn't know what she was talking about.

"You'll have to come with me." Lovesong finally  
said after a long moment. "You were trespassing on our land, which isn't  
allowed. Surely you found our scent markers?"

He had; he'd just chosen to ignore them. When he  
told her this, she snorted.

"Quite the charmer, you are." She grumbled.  
Brushing past him, she flicked her tiny stub of a tail. "Come on. We need to  
get back to the Clan."

"Now hold on!" he protested. "I never agreed to  
go anywhere with you!"

"And I never asked your opinion." Lovesong  
answered ominously, looking back at him with eyes narrowed to slits.

Suddenly Griffin was aware of countless points  
of light, small glowing orbs of blue, green, and amber watching him from the  
dense canopy. Nothing stirred, but the eyes that watched him were enough to  
make him feel his skin prickle underneath his fur.

_"Sur cette terre, le sang a été répandu. Sur  
cette terre, vous avez scellé votre destin." _Lovesong spoke, amusement  
tingeing her words. "On this land, your blood was spilled. On this land, you  
sealed your fate."

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**WaitI'mnotdeadyet.**

**Seriously though, if you were waiting for my other stories, I apologize. DX They're on hiatus until I get my inspiration back.**

**But this. This is going to be my pride and joy. I've had this story planned out for so long. It's gonna be huge. XD**

**So, welcome to a Brave New World. Enjoy, and don't forget to review!**


	2. Chapter 2

It was when the steady incline of the land became noticeable that Griffin realized the eyes he'd felt watching him were gone. The trees that had shielded the ground from the sky for miles on end finally began to thin out, revealing dapples of sunlight on almost ever surface. The shape of Lovesong in front of him had an almost misty quality, as the early morning rays picked out every individual patch of color. When she turned her head slightly to see him out of the corner of her eye, he scowled. Something was definitely off about her.

"Where do you come from, Griffin?" The calico she-cat asked, nimbly leaping over a puddle in the middle of the well-worn path. Her gravelly voice betrayed no real interest, though her ear twitched slightly as she waited for an answer.

"I don't know." He mumbled. It was an honest answer, at least. "Why do you care?"

"I don't." Lovesong answered matter-of-factly. "Wovenstar will, though."

"Who's Wovenstar?" Griffin asked after a moment.

"My leader." The young she-cat answered, standing a little straighter. Even if she tried to mask it, the pride in her voice was evident. "She alone rules over EarthClan. I serve underneath her, as her deputy."

"That's stupid. Haven't you ever heard of Democracy?"

She cast him a withering look over her shoulder. "Yeah, and what would happen when we chose the wrong leader? Some cats are idiots. Democracy, honestly! That's the most ridiculous idea I've ever heard."

"Works fine for the humans." Griffin muttered under his breath, before remembering something he'd heard once from a rather talkative parrot. Right… George W. Bush. Can't forget that. He shuddered visibly, though Lovesong didn't notice.

Finally, Lovesong paused. Griffin skidded to a halt behind her. "Look behind you, Griffin." She spoke softly, gesturing with her stump of a tail to a place in the distance.

Blinking, Griffin turned. The sight ripped his breath away, left him completely speechless as the magnitude of what lay out in front of him slowly sank in. The most amazing place, the most beautiful land, the most perfect world of endless forests and mountains and rivers. Birds carved the air with skilled wings, golden sunlight touched the land with silver, and a soft song whispered from the trees. They were high above it all, looking down at a place that as surreal and beyond his wildest dreams. The wild world spread out as far as he could see. This… this was freedom.

"You probably weren't aware, but you've been on a mountain this entire time." Lovesong told him, looking up to where the mountain began the suddenly climb steeply. "The entrance to the EarthClan camp is very near here. Not too high up, luckily. Wovenstar's terrified of heights, so…" She looked back at the young tom and saw he still was staring, completely unmovable, at the golden world.

All this time… this is where I was…? He though to himself, feeling as though his head was spinning. Just the feeling of his claws sinking into the steady earth and the fresh breeze in his fur was enough to fill him with the most emboldened sense of power, of freedom and of fear. Griffin was so huge, yet so tiny. So powerful, yet so insignificant.

"Come on, boy." Lovesong said after allowing him a bit longer to marvel. "We are almost there."

Reluctantly, the red-furred young cat tore his gaze away and followed Lovesong up the sharp incline of the mountain. Stones poked uncomfortably at his pads, and as the air thinned he felt it was getting harder to breath. But Lovesong seemed to be in her element, leaping elegantly from boulder to boulder with her breathing as light and easy as though she was simply lying down. In no time he was struggling to keep up as she set a brisk, smooth pace. Often times she'd look back at him with a coy smile on her lips, something he guessed she didn't show often unless she was teasing someone. Which she obviously was.

"Getting tired?" The calico finally asked, halting atop a flat-faced rock. Numerous claw marks plagued its edges, scratches of white against a stony gray surface.  
"No." Griffin lied, gritting his teeth as he caught up with her. Despite traveling most of his life and being in phenomenal shape because of it, he was hungry and exhausted. He simply wasn't used to this terrain.

Lovesong seemed distracted. She hefted herself up onto her hind legs unsteadily, trying to peer beyond. "We're here." She stated, her blue eyes flashing momentarily with a hidden signal. Griffin just barely caught sight of a tiny head ducking out of sight from behind a boulder. The ground beneath their paws began to tremble dangerously, and Griffin dug his claws in. He cast a frenzied glance at Lovesong, who seemed completely unfazed.

Slowly, achingly slowly, the wall of rock in front of them began to move. Two massive slabs of stone split, pulling away from each other with a thunder-like sound. As the obstructions were moved, a black tunnel yawned, looking completely natural. Griffin stared uncomprehendingly, his mouth open. A small hatch suddenly opened atop the tunnel, and down dropped a tiny white she-cat.

"Greetings, Lovesong." The little cat bowed deeply, her blue eyes shining with suppressed curiosity as her attention drifted to Griffinpaw. She didn't ask, though she began to fidget uncomfortably.

"At ease, Skypaw." Lovesong smiled, obviously amused. "This is Griffin. I found him poking around our border. Wovenstar will have to deal with him now."

Skypaw giggled, covering her mouth with one paw. "Pleased to meet your acquaintance, Griffin." She suddenly blinked, remembering something. "Oh, Lovesong! I meant to ask you about the entrance! Do you think it's a bit too flashy? Wavepaw talked me into that rumble effect, and I'm sure that it's not nearly as discrete as it should be…"

"Don't worry about it." The deputy answered, patting the smaller she-cat's head with one paw. "It works fine."

Skypaw flushed happily beneath her white fur and nodded gratefully. "Ah- thank you, Lovesong!" She then waved them off as they continued on down the tunnel before she leapt back up out the hatch.

"She's very proper." Griffin observed gruffly once they were out of earshot.

The calico nodded distractedly. "Her name is Skypaw. She is one of the Clan's apprentices. I wish Wavepaw wasn't always getting her into trouble, but that boy is such a hooligan he's always leading the apprentices into something stupid…" She began mumbling under her breath.

Not much time passed before the tunnel began to brighten. Pleasant warmth radiated throughout the tunnel, relaxing Griffin instantly as they padded along. The floor was smooth and well-worn, and it too seemed to give off heat that soothed his aching pads. When the light at the end of the tunnel finally came into clear view, Lovesong's ears pricked. "It seems the Clan already knows we're here." She murmured, though how she could tell Griffin had no idea. "Must be another one of Daringhowl's inventions."

Before Griffin could question her more, the tunnel opened up, and the two young cats were thrown into a spectacle of light. A huge stone cavern, rising so high Griffin had to crane his head back to see the top. Spiraling sunlight found its way through small holes that dotted the near and far side of the cavern. The entire place glimmered, almost as though encrusted with jewels. On further examination, this proved to be true. Smooth, glimmering chunks of jade and mica and every other mineral imaginable were what made up the walls. Smaller tunnels then the one they'd entered were on every side, apparently heading deeper into the mountains. The place was so massive that Griffin's paw steps echoed like firecrackers.

"Hiiiiiiii Loveyyyyyyy!" A voice suddenly yelled.

Lovesong sighed in an amused, tired way, and Griffin turned to see where the voice had come from. A massive ledge of stone jutted out from one of the walls, creating a kind of balcony to the den in the wall behind it. Around the ledge were more, smaller and lower shelves of stone. Several elderly cats occupied these ledges, their faces sour and fur patchy. More cats than Griffin had ever seen in one place before crowded around that stone, some looking at him, and some looking at the she-cat perched on the ledge. She was small, her snow-white fur laced through with silvery blue tabby stripes. She had blue eyes, not sky-blue like Lovesong's or Skypaw's, but an icy hue that managed to be piercing and warm at the same time. She was waving frantically to Lovesong, a grin stretched wide.

"Hello, Wovenstar." Lovesong smiled. From the way she rolled her eyes, it was obvious she was quite used to her leader's antics. "I've brought the trespasser. Griffin's his name."

"Oh, that's a cool name!" Wovenstar gasped, her eyes widening. "I knew this guy once, his name was Chimera! They're pretty much the same thing, right? Or at least come from the same place? Maybe… hm. I don't know. Eh." The leader blinked, tapping one paw on her forehead as she thought. Finally she shrugged.

"I dunno!"

"She's… she's so strange." Griffin muttered to Lovesong. He suddenly noticed that this she-cat was younger than Lovesong, younger even then Griffin himself. And yet she was leader. There were much older cats in the crowd, and they took orders from a half-grown kitten? Yet they seemed amused by her antics; charmed, even. The two approached the ledge slowly, and Griffin couldn't help noticing the glares the elders cast him as they walked by.

"M'kay," Wovenstar began, peering over the ledge with bright, childish eyes. "So, Griffin, would ya like to tell me why you're here? And I don't wanna hear that whole 'it was your beauty that lured her here, dear goddess!' spiel." She said with an exaggerated swing of her head and wave of her tail.

Griffin blinked in confusion. Surely no cat was really so arrogant? It was only when she began to giggle at his confused expression that he realized she was teasing him. He flushed angrily and glared at her indignantly. "I didn't come here on purpose!" He protested, sounding like an offended child. A tom behind him chuckled slightly, obviously amused that he was even trying to argue with the bouncy leader.

"Lies!" Said leader decreed, her voice ringing with mock seriousness. "You lie! To the dungeon with you!"

"Wovenstar," someone from the back of the crowd chided gently. "I told you no more pretending we have a dungeon!"

"That's no fun, though!" She whined in reply, pouting. "Why can't I have a dungeon? Lovey, I demand a dungeon!"

"I'll try to arrange it." Lovesong grinned.

"Good Lovey! Now, while we're on the subject of dungeons-"

"Wovenstar." A sharp, leathery voice interrupted. A she-cat who sat on the ledge to Wovenstar's left glared at the young leader. Griffin was beginning to grasp that this council of elders was not at all fond of the boisterous child. "Stay on subject. You're boring your Clanmates to death."

Mutters of protest rose from the crowd. It seemed the Clan was much friendlier with Wovenstar than the elders gave them credit for.

"Alright, alright." The white she-cat grumbled, looking back at Griffin. "Red one! As our code dictates, you must now join my Clan! It's like being a prisoner, just more fun. Isn't that right, Daringhowl?"

A ginger tom from the back lifted his paler-striped tail in agreement. "Yup, yup. A little rough at first, but fun."

"Now hold on a minute!" Griffin protested loudly. "I never said anything about this! What if I don't want to join your Clan? I have to keep going, idiot, I'm-" It was then that he noticed. For the first time, the insufferable ache in his paws to keep moving was gone. He felt… he wasn't sure. It was pleasant though, this feeling. Like there was no longer any reason for him to move. Something… something lie here, in this world.

"You have no choice. You are now my minion!" Wovenstar laughed. "Welcome to EarthClan, Griffinpaw!"

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**Spastic updates FTW.**

**(By the way, this story is rather old. Like, a couple years. I only just now got around to posting all the older chapters. So sorry that I suck. 'N all that jazz.)**

**Review, please? X3**


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